Ink separator



y 1967 c. M. CHAMPION ETAL' 3,319,563

INK SEPARATOR Filed Sept. 18, 1964 INVENTORS CLARENCE M. CHAMPION FIGI MANFORD A. ORDELHEIDE ga hi h, M

ATTORNEKS" United States Patent Ofifice Pawns,

3,319,563 INK SEEARATOR Clarence M. Champion, Wheatridge, Colo. (6942 Vance St., Arvada, Colo. 80002), and Manford A. Ordaiheide, 2803 E. Amherst Ave., Denver, Colo. 80210 Filed Sept. 18, 1964, Ser. No. 397,562 6 Claims. (Cl. 101207) This invention generally relates to printing presses and more particularly to an improved ink separator employed to remove ink between adjoining peripheral sections of an ink roller in a printing press for insuring that ultimate printed impressions corresponding to these roller sections will be clearly segregated.

A primary object of the present invention is to provide an ink separator that will function in an improved manner to remove and dispose of ink from selected peripheral portions of an ink roller in a printing press while substantially lessening wear on the roller and without afiecting operation.

A further object of the present invention is to provide such an ink separator having a relatively simple construction which is economical to manufacture and easy to as semble and dis-assemble with respect to the associated ink roller.

A more specific object of the present invention is to provide an ink separator having a resiliently mounted scraper head which engages the associated ink roller with a force that may be conveniently adjusted to provide desired results.

Another specific object of the present invention is the provision of such an ink separator which disposes of the removed ink by means of gravity.

The foregoing and other objects of'the invention are achieved by a structure including a scraper head having a pair of blades projecting from the head in overlying and diverging or inclined inter-relationship. The scraper head is resiliently mounted with the divergent ends of its blades both in contact with the appropriate portion of the associated ink roller and this mounting is accomplished by a stem slideably received through an aperture in the scraper head and a coil spring placed on the stem to urge the scraper head against a stop fixed on one end of the stem.

In one form of the invention, the stem is fixed in horizontal position with the scraper blades both engaging the ink roller, by means of a stationary support member which extends alongside the ink roller and has an apertore through which the stem is transversely received. Threads are provided on the stem and received on these threads are a pair of clamping members adapted to be engaged against opposite sides of the support member for securing the separator in operative position. In the preferred embodiment, the stationary support member is provided with a set screw which may be advanced into engagement with the periphery of the stem so as to further secure the stem in position.

Ink that has been scraped from the roller moves by gravity away from the roller contacting edges of the scraper blades due to the inclined disposition of the scraper blades. Additionally, ink is caught and directed off the scraper blades by a run-ofi' block fixed to the lower scraper blade and having inclined passages extending downwardly in opposite directions to the sides of the lower scraper blade.

Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent from the following description and corresponding drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmental perspective view of part of a printing press incorporating ink separators constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view with certain portions in crosssection of the ink separator together with a supporting bar and a fragmental portion of an associated ink roller; and

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken generally along lines 33 of FIG. 2.

Referring to the drawings in detail, FIG. 1 shows part of a roller train of a printing press including an ink roller 10 such as a distributor roller whose periphery is divided into several sections 12, which for example, may bear ink of different colors, by means of ink separators 14 embodying the present invention. As will be subsequently described in detail, separators 14 are mounted in operative position relative to associated ink roller 10 by means of a support bar 16 which extends alongside of roller 10 and is suitably fixed at its opposite ends to supporting structure (not shown) of the press. For safety purposes, a suitable guard 18, forming no part of the present invention, is suspended from support bar 16 below the ink separators to prevent inadvertent contact with the ink rollers.

Referring to FIG. 2, the illustrated separator 14 includes a scraper head 20 having a generally block-like construction formed of suitable metal and with opposite upper and lower faces 22, 24 extending at an angle of approximately 30" with respect to each other. Fixed on mounting faces 22, 24 of the scraper head so as to project outwardly in overlying and diverging relationship are a pair of scraper blades 26 and 28 having a rectangular shape with square edges and being formed from suitable material, preferably polytetrafluoroethylene marketed by E. I. du Pont de Nemours under the trademark Teflon or other non-abrasive long wearing material. In the shown embodiment, scraper head 20 is formed at one end with transverse shoulders 30 against which the inner ends of blades 26, 28 abut, and screws 32 are employed to secure blades 26, 28 to the body of scraper head 20.

Scraper head 20 is resiliently mounted on the end of a stem, shown as a rod 40, through means of passage 42 formed through the head 20 so as to slideably receive the end 41 of rod 40, while precluding pivotal movement of the scraper head relative to rod 40. Biasing head 20 towards rod end 41 is a coil spring 44 placed about a reduced diameter portion 43 of rod 40 with one end 46 of the spring engaging the scraper head body and the other end 48 engaging a shoulder 50 formed at the juncture of rod portion 41. Movement of scraper head 20 off rod 40 is prevented by a suitable stop 52 fixed to rod end 41; passage 42 in scraper head 20 being enlarged at 45 to accommodate stop 52.

In accordance with the present invention, the separator, in use, is mounted in a horizontal position with both blades 26, 28 simultaneously engaging the periphery of roller 10 as illustrated in FIG. 2. In the preferred embodiment this mounting is accomplished by reception of rod portion 43 through an elongated slot 15 formed longitudinally in support bar 16 as shown in FIG. 1, and by clamping against opposite sides of support bar 16 with a pair of clamp members 60 and 62; clamp member 60 being a knurled nut while member 62 is an internally threaded hand wheel. Threads 64 are for-med on rod 40 between shoulder 50 and end 47 and nut 60 and hand wheel 62 are received about threads 64 so as to be movable into engagement with the opposite faces of bar 16 for any desired setting of rod 40 relative to bar 16. It will be apparent that the force of engagement between scraper blades 26, 28 and roller 10 may be selectively varied by changing the position of rod 40 relative to the bar 16 and this is conveniently effected by means of the nut and hand wheel. If desired, a washer 66 may be provided on rod 40 for engagement between hand wheel 62 and support bar 16.

Preferably, a set screw 68 is provided in a corresponding threaded bore (not shown) in support bar 16 so as to be engageable with rod 40 to further secure the rod in operative position as well as to facilitate adjustment thereof.

It will be evident from the foregoing that, in operation, the dual and non-rigid contact between the blades 26, 28 and ink roller achieves highly effective scraping action regardless of the rotative direction of roller 10,

'which direction may be reversed without requiring adjustment of the scraper. Moreover, the inclined disposition of blades 26, 28 will prevent collection of the removed ink thereon so that the roller contacting edges of the blades will always be clean.

Further to this end, in order to dispose of ink that may drip from upper blade 26 to lower blade 28, a run-off block 70 is fixed to lower blade 28 below upper blade 26. Referring to FIG. 3, formed in run-off block 70 are a pair of grooved passages 72 which extend downwardly to the sides of lower blade 28 from a high point '74 located generally at the center of scraper head 20. Ink caught in passages 72 is thereby directed laterally off the scraper head 20.

As will be apparent to persons skilled in the art, various modifications and adaptations of the structure above described will become readily apparent without departure from the spirit and scope of the invention which is defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An ink separator for preventing flow of ink between contiguous peripheral portions of a printing ink roller comprising a scraper head including a pair of blades diverging outwardly from the scraper head to free ends adapted to simultaneously engage circumferentially spaced portions of an inking roller, a support member having peripheral threads, means mounting said scraper head for slideable movement on said support member while preventing pivotal movement of said scraper head relative to said support member, and means on said support member resiliently urging said scraper head outwardly towards one end of said support member for causing the free ends of said blades to resiliently engage the inking roller when the separator is in use and clamping means threaded on said support member for clamping theseparator to a support.

2. An ink separator for preventing flow of ink between adjoining peripheral portions of a printing ink roller; the separator comprising a head having a pair of scraper blades projecting outwardly therefrom in overlying and outwardly diverging inter-relationship, an elongated mounting member slideably received through an aperture in said head, a stop on one end of said member engageable with the head to limit axial movement of the head in one direction, and a spring received on said mounting member biasing the head in said one direction against the stop, said mounting member having peripheral threads, clamping means threaded on said mounting member for clamping the separator to a support, said mounting member having an intermediate shoulder lo cated between the stop and said threads, said spring being located between said shoulder and said head with opposite ends of the spring respectively engaging said shoulder and said head.

3. An ink separator for preventing flow of ink between adjoining peripheral portions of a printing ink roller; the separator comprising a head having a pair of scraper blades projecting outwardly therefrom in overlying and outwardly diverging inter-relationship, an elongated mounting member slideably received through an aperture in said head, a stop on one end of said member engageable with the head to limit axial movement of the head in one direction, a spring received on said mounting member biasing the head in said one direction against the stop, said elongated mounting member having threads on the periphery thereof, and a pair of threaded clamping members received on the threads of said elongated member for clamping the separator to the opposite sides of a stationary support member.

4. An ink separator for preventing flow of ink between adjoining peripheral portions of a printing ink roller; the separator comprising a head having a pair of scraper blades projecting outwardly therefrom in overly ing and outwardly diverging inter-relationship, an elongated mounting member slideably received through an aperture in said head, a stop on one end of said member engageable with the head to limit axial movement of the head in one direction, a spring received on said mounting member biasing the head in said one direction against the stop, and means on one of said blades below the other blade forming a pair of inclined passages extending downwardly to the opposite sides of the head for receiving ink which has been scraped from the roller and directing the ink off the scraper blades.

5. In a printing press the combination comprising an ink roller, an ink separator including a pair of overlying blades extending at an oblique angle withrespect to each other and having outer divergent ends, and means mounting said blades against movement with said outer ends both in engagement with said roller, said means including a fixed support positioned laterally adjacent said roller and having an aperture receiving an intermediate portion of said separator, 21 pair of clamping members mounted on said intermediate portion for engagement with opposite sides of said support member, and a screw mounted in said support member to be engageable with said intermediate portion of the separator to thereby further hold the separator in position relative to said roller.

6. An ink separator for preventing flow of ink between contiguous peripheral portions of a printink ink roller comprising: a scraper head including a plurality of blades projecting outwardly from the scraper head to free ends adapted to simultaneously engage circumferentially spaced portions of an inking roller, a support member having peripheral threads, means mounting said scraper head for slidable movement on said support member while preventing pivotal movement of said scraper head relative to said support member, means on said support member resiliently urging said scraper head outwardly towards one end of said support member for causing the free ends of said blades to resiliently engage the inking roller when the separator is in use, and clamping means threaded on said support member for clamping the separator to a support.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 728,354 5/1903 Bauer 15-256 .51 1,401,218 12/1921 Weldon 101364 1,672,073 6/1928 Molins 101-152 1,73 6,945 11/1929 Schroeder l01-365 2,123,488 7/1933 Presby 101-157 2,492,181 12/ 1949 Richter 101-425 X 2,525,363 10/1950 Luehrs 101210 X 2,644,395 7/1953 Peyrebrune et al 101-157 2,691,344 10/1954 McMullen 10l157 X 3,016,826 1/1962 Sage 101-425 3,030,916 4/ 1962 Brown et al 118252 3,198,113 8/ 1965 Feller 101208 FOREIGN PATENTS 392,670 5/ 1933 Great Britain.

830,334 3/ 1960 Great Britain.

ROBERT E. PULFREY, Primary Examiner.

H. P. EWELL, Assistant Examiner. 

6. AN INK SEPARATOR FOR PREVENTING FLOW OF INK BETWEEN CONTIGUOUS PERIPHERAL PORTIONS OF A PRINTINK INK ROLLER COMPRISING: A SCRAPER HEAD INCLUDING A PLURALITY OF BLADES PROJECTING OUTWARDLY FROM THE SCRAPER HEAD TO FREE ENDS ADAPTED TO SIMULTANEOUSLY ENGAGE CIRCUMFERENTIALLY SPACED PORTIONS OF AN INKING ROLLER, A SUPPORT MEMBER HAVING PERIPHERAL THREADS, MEANS MOUNTING SAID SCRAPER HEAD FOR SLIDABLE MOVEMENT ON SAID SUPPORT MEMBER WHILE PREVENTING PIVOTAL MOVEMENT OF SAID SCRAPER HEAD RELATIVE TO SAID SUPPORT MEMBER, MEANS ON SAID SUPPORT MEMBER RESILIENTLY URGING SAID SCRAPER HEAD OUTWARDLY TOWARDS ONE END OF SAID SUPPORT MEMBER FOR CAUSING THE FREE ENDS OF SAID BLADES TO RESILIENTLY ENGAGE THE INKING ROLLER WHEN THE SEPARATOR IS IN USE, AND CLAMPING MEANS THREADED ON SAID SUPPORT MEMBER FOR CLAMPING THE SEPARATOR TO A SUPPORT. 